Radioactive bubblegum
by lilyyuri
Summary: A routine mission gone slightly wrong... But in the best possible way. Malec.


**Disclaimer:** Of course I don't own this, I barely own the laptop I'm writing on...

 **Summery:** A routine mission gone slightly wrong... But in the best possible way.

 **Author's note:** So my friend recommended this show to me, and I watched the first two seasons pretty much back to back. Now, if you ask me about the finer plot points I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything since most of it was pretty annoying and I fast-forwarded a lot of it. I can, however, tell you all about Malec... (Surprising, huh?), which means no actual spoilers to anything specific.

Anyway, this little story came to me while driving to work, and amazingly I managed to get it all down that very same day! That's definitely a first!

I tried to keep it Alec-rated, maybe some day I'll write a Magnus-rated one... Ok, Isabelle-rated anyway.

 **Radioactive Bubblegum**

The blast was loud, and very near. Alec immediately ducked for cover, his arms over his head, hoping the others will keep safe. When he realized the danger was over he slowly stood up, looking around and trying to asses the damage. They were tracking some demons in an alleyway and although the bang was very loud it seemed the only real damage done was a large trash can exploding- luckily it was empty.

"Everyone alright?" He called, watching as his family and friends emerged from their various hiding spots. Isabelle, Jace, Clary and Simon (who seemed to be everywhere these days, insisting on joining every mission now that he was a daylighter) all gathered around him in a circle, looking at him oddly. "What?"

"You're..." Jace began, looking perplexed and uneasy, his brow creasing uneasily before he sighed, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Alec said with a shrug, but they were all still staring at him like he grew an extra head, or a tail. He was tempted to look behind him to see if that was the case when Clary opened her mouth,

"You're... A little..." She was struggling for words and Alec gave her a weird look, what the hell was going on?

"You're pink!" Isabelle said bluntly, caring about her brother too much to let him dangle for too long. Alec's eyes grew wide and he looked at his hands for the first time, they were indeed pink, bright pink. Reaching for the collar of his shirt he peered into it with dread- yes, he was pink. All over.

"What? How did this happen?" He cried, feeling the panic starting to rise. This could not be good! It wasn't like he was covered in something pink, it was his skin. His actual skin, as if that was his natural color.

"We're not sure." Jace said softly. Truth be told, apart from being extremely happy that it was Alec who was pink and not him, and feeling really sorry for his parabatai's fate- this was actually quite funny. Tossing a glance at the girls he could see that while Clary still looked confused Isabelle was working very hard on keeping a straight face, Simon too- much less successfully.

"Izzy!" Alec cried out, "Stop laughing and help me!" Isabelle took a deep breath and bit her lip as she approached her upset brother. She wanted to reach for his hand, comfort him- she had no idea how to fix him, but when she reached out a thought struck her,

"Wait, are you contagious?" As one the three others took a step back. Having Alec turning pink was one thing, having the entire squad turning pink because they touched him was another altogether.

"How should I know?" He snapped at her, feeling his ire rising by their reaction- they were Shadowhunters for Angel's sake! Well, Shadowhunters and a vampire. But they were meant to be highly trained and resourceful, not behaving like little children encountering... Brussels sprouts for the first time!

"This is a very interesting shade," Simon decided to add his two cents on the issue, "You think you might be glowing in the dark? That would be awesome!" The young vampire's eyes were sparkling with the idea, while Alec's narrowed in disdain, "You could replace that glowing stone thing!" He added happily, completely enjoying the situation. Alec made a grabbing motion towards Simon, causing the other man to shriek and run for cover behind Clary, which made it a whole harder for the others to hold their mirth.

"Maybe you should use your healing rune." Jace suggested once he managed to get control of himself. This was definitely going down as one of the best work days he's had, Alec's feelings aside. Alec was about to reach into his pocket when Isabelle raised her hand,

"Wait! I don't think it's a demonic course, it looks a lot like..." Alec turned pleading eyes to her, please don't say what you're about to say... Isabelle gave him a soft, apologetic smile, "Magic... You should probably go and have your warlock look at it." Alec winced a little, shaking his head, great!

"Clary, can you give me Dot's number?" He asked, and the red head girl looked at him in shock,

"Wait, you're not going to..." Alec rolled his eyes, why was this so hard for her to grasp?

"I can't let Magnus see me like this!" He snapped again, though part of him only wanted to go and curl in Magnus' arms and forget everything else. But really, he needed to figure out how to cure himself before he went home to Magnus, it was just too embarrassing.

"Oh, but you must..." Isabelle muttered softly but luckily Alec didn't hear her.

"Well, you can't go back to the institute looking like this." Jace said with a gesture that covered all of Alec. For one thing, if Maryse found out they'd brought Alec back pink she'd bring the roof down on their heads. And for another- it was very likely that Alec will lose all credibility as head of the institute if he showed up looking like a very bad punk imitation.

"Yeah, you look like a radioactive bubblegum!" Simon supplied helpfully from his shelter behind Clary's back and Alec found his fingers itching for his bow. He gave all four of them a hard stare before he sighed in defeat,

"Fine, I'll go see Magnus." He conceded defeat, waving his hand to dismiss the crowd, "You guys go back to the institute, I'll be there as soon as I can." The others turned to leave, when Isabelle gave him a bright, suggestive smile,

"Take your time, brother."

Alec waited until they were gone before he turned on his heel and marched the other way. Luckily his glamour was not affected by this so he didn't have to walk all the way to Magnus' loft in Brooklyn looking like... how did Simon put it? A radioactive bubblegum. But boy, he really didn't want Magnus to see him like this... Not only because it will worry his boyfriend but mostly because he had a feeling he looked absolutely ridiculous.

When he reached Magnus' loft he let himself in using his key, and made a beeline to the liqueur trolley. He needed a stiff one for this. It was amazing how quickly he got used to Magnus' form of alcoholic pick-me-ups, something his mother was sure to frown upon if she'll ever find out.

"Hello gorgeous, this is quite unexpected." Magnus walked into the living room after the wards alerted him that Alec was in. It was like a little chime of a wind bell next to his ear that made Magnus smile wide whenever he heard it, especially when he wasn't expecting Alec to show up in the middle of the day. He found Alec standing with his back to him near his drinks trolley and the smile slipped from his face- this cannot be good. Alec slowly turned and Magnus' eyes grew wide with shock,

"Not a word!" Alec warned,

"You're... pink." Magnus breathed out and Alec deflated. Why did everyone feel the need to state the obvious?

"I know."

"What happened?" Magnus came closer, running his eyes up and down Alec's body trying to gauge the severity of the situation. This was quite worrying, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm just pink." Alec said, his voice a little petulant- something he allowed himself to be only around Magnus. He waved his hand, "Go ahead and laugh."

"I wouldn't!" Magnus cried dramatically, though now that he knew Alec was not going to collapse or sprout an extra limb, this was quite amusing. Biting his lip he tried his best to fight the smile, "It looks quite good on you." In an odd way it kind of did- the bright pink color was making Alec's neck rune stand out even more, and the fact that his whole boyfriend looked like confectionery made Magnus want to lick the rune even more than usual. He took a deep breath and tried to recompose himself.

"Shut up..." Alec grumbled, feeling his cheeks heating up. He really needed to concentrate on getting back to normal and Magnus' flirting was not helping one bit- mostly because Alec recognized the look in his eyes and wanted nothing more than to yield to it.

"No, it's true, it brings out your eyes." It really did. "Can I touch you?" Magnus' fingers were dancing near his chest, unsure if they could close the gap safely. Alec shrugged,

"I don't know. Try." He told Magnus, feeling quite vindictive all of a sudden. Magnus pondered the dilemma for a few seconds, before he curled his fingers back expressively,

"Mmm, pink doesn't really suit me." He confessed with a smile. "So, are you pink all over?" Alec rolled his eyes, really? But nodded all the same, much to Magnus' delight, "Show me..."

"Can you fix this?" Alec asked instead of succumbing to his boyfriend's mischief, and Magnus sighed- as much as he'd love a striptease from a pink Alec he'd much rather have one that would end with him able to touch all that glorious skin. Taking a step back he shook his head to clear it, suddenly all business,

"Tell me what happened." Alec dropped back on the sofa and shrugged,

"I'm not sure, we were hunting down a group of shax demons and there was a blast..." Magnus' frowned,

"I've never heard of shax demons turning someone pink..." He confessed, this was definitely not demon work.

"I don't think it was a demon," Alec said, the more he thought about it the more Izzy's words made sense. "I... think it may have been a warlock..." He looked up at Magnus, hoping he won't take this too badly,

"That's very likely..." Magnus said absently, before his eyes focused on Alec's, "Wait, you think this is my fault?"

"Of course not!" Alec cried immediately, before he quieted down, running his hands on his thighs uncomfortably, "I don't know... Maybe someone with a grudge?" Magnus gave him a sideways glance, complete with a half smile,

"Even if someone wanted to hurt me using you I doubt this is what they'll go for." Alec shrugged, yes, Magnus had a point and it was good to know that he wasn't being used to hurt one of the people he loved the most, but a part of him was disapointed the case wasn't that simple. "I mean, look at you, you look like a present."

"Yeah," He agreed with a sigh, "I doubt they'd want to get back at you with a pink boyfriend." Looking up at Magnus he tried his best puppy dog eyes, "So, can you fix me? I really need to get back to the institute." Mostly because he didn't really trust the others not to mess things up. But also because if Magnus didn't fix him soon he'd have to get away from here if he didn't want to turn his boyfriend pink as well.

"Oh Alexander, always in such a rush..." Magnus sighed dramatically and Alec wanted to roll his eyes, "You know... If I don't turn you back, you'll have to stay here, with me..." He purred with a mischievous smile that Alec mirrored,

"Yes, but you probably can't touch me." Magnus' smile vanished like water into sand,

"Spells book it is!" He declared loudly and turned on his heel to look for the right book. Alec laughed joyfully and leaned back against the sofa cushions, watching as Magnus practically danced around the room muttering to himself and looking for a cure for him. For the first time since he turned pink he didn't really care about his condition, he loved watching Magnus work- the way his body moved, it was like he was dancing without actually dancing, and Alec had seen what a great dancer his boyfriend was firsthand so it was even more exhilarating to watch. And it was making his body tingle and the heat rising- and damn it Magnus better find a cure and fast!

After a while Magnus presented him with a small silver cup steaming with some foul smelling potion. Alec looked doubtful, especially after he got a whiff of the cup, but Magnus gave him one of his looks which always made Alec feel like a scorned child and he took a deep breath and gulped down the contents of the cup in one go. Tossing his head back on the cushions Alec closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on keeping the potion in. after a while the little tremors running through him stopped and he opened his eyes to see Magnus wearing a wide smile. Looking down at his hands he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they were back to their normal color. Jumping up from the sofa with a wide grin he grabbed Magnus in a very enthusiastic hug, pulling his laughing boyfriend into a deep kiss.

When they resurfaced Alec pressed their foreheads together, and sighed regretffully- he had to go back to the institute, much as he didn't want to. Being the boss could be such a pain in the ass sometimes...

"Where do you think you're going?" Magnus asked, refusing to relinquish his grip on his boyfriend. By the Angel's, he was not letting this man leave his arms for all the treasures of Idris!

"I need to get back..." Alec responded with a small pout, and usually Magnus found his dedication to the job quite endearing but right now he needed Alec, naked, in bed with him and not running around trying to make sure Clary and Jace weren't doing anything stupid or Isabelle relapsing.

"Oh no no no, my dear Alexander," He purred, and Alec knew he had lost, and he didn't care one bit, especially when Magnus' hands started to travel lower down his back, "I cannot let you leave, I have to check you over, make sure you're back to normal... _everywhere_..." Alec tried to hold back a smile, though he could almost feel every hair in his body standing on end with the anticipation for Magnus' 'check up',

"Magnus..." He breathed out softly, but unfortunately his boyfriend mistook his tone,

"Let the others take care of things for a while," Magnus insisted, "I'll even text your sister to let her know not to wait." Pulling his phone from his pocket Magnus quickly typed a message to Isabelle, his other arm still wrapped securely around Alec's waist, as if afraid that if he let go completely Alec will slip away,

"What did you write?" Alec knew he should have offered to text Isabelle himself, because whatever Magnus wrote it was bound to embarrass him. Magnus gave him one of his devilishly innocent smiles and showed his phone to Alec, who quickly read the text- _I'm still working on your brother, will send him back tomorrow morning_ '. Yup, just like he feared... Before he had time to berate Magnus for his wording a reply came and Alec felt his cheeks flaming before he handed the phone back to Magnus, shaking his head and refusing to meet the warlock's eyes. Magnus read the Isabelle's reply and laughed brightly,

"Oh, the little minx... She's not wrong though..." He purred as he dropped his phone on the sofa and pulled the still embarrassed Alec to the bedroom behind him.


End file.
